If you're old enough to be around between 1970 and 1976, it's pretty likely that you or somebody you knew owned a Duster. As popular as it was, was never supposed to happen!
By the time the late 60's came around, the Chrysler Corporation owned at least 30% of Compact car sales in America, compared to the 16% of total American car sales. The Valiant was Plymouth's competitor in this area. In 1967, when the Valiant was restyled for a second time (the first time was in '63), it got a 108" wheelbase, but was only available as a 2 or 4 door sedan. The Barracuda took over in the hardtop and convertable departments.
For the new decade of 1970, Plymouth and Dodge were each given 15 million dollars to redesign the A-body compacts. Dodge went the same-old new grilles, tail lights, minor changes route; while Plymouth took a wild leap by putting every last cent into a new car.
With the Barracuda getting that legendary body it shares with the Challenger in 70, the planning commitee realized that both of these new super cool, but super heavy cars would need a Hemi to keep up with the 327 Chevy Nova (fastest 1/4 mile car at the time). The Barracuda, in 68 and 69 put up a fight with less than a Hemi, as could the 340 Dart Swinger hardtop. But a 340 in a Valiant sedan wasn't expected to sell enough to bother with. They needed this new car to be light weight, and look fast.
Ok, so it's all good and well, right? Not quite. Chrysler didn't have a new compact coupe in its Long Range Plan. Not to fear though, because of this, the Duster was just details compared to the all new E-body Barracuda and Challenger. Not much attention was given to this impractical off-the-wall project.
Because of budget issues, many of the car's features had to be the same as the Valiant. The front end had to be Valiant, as did the lower part of the door. The rear fenders, however, were a different story. They only had to complete the 188.4 total length requirements. So, they were given a more curved shape. The lower body creases came down off the door, then back up after the wheel well. These no-so-subtle changes really made for a mean look, while destroying the box shape of the standard Valiant.
The rear glass was pushed way up and sloped steeply foreward, and attatched to a sharply angled C-pillar, making the car look more like a coupe. As much as it looks like a hardtop, the quarter windows merely flip outward. The glass on the sides is another deviation from the boxy Valiant notchbacks. The new car's glass is made from 45 inch radius glass, a very sharp curve to make the car look more round up top. The "turning point in the program" was when the doors were modified to accept the rounder glass. The round glass helps make the car look rounder overall, even though the doors and fenders are exacltly the same externally, as the Valiant.
Horizontal tail lights made for a sportier look, too. Money left over went into a new grille; closely spaced, blacked out horizontal bars, brought flush with the hood in the center. The above sketching and models took six weeks.
Ok, we have a car, but, what's it called? The people in advertising came up with Duster, as it was aggressive. Not unlike Judge or Boss. Originally, the plan was to use Warner Brothers' Tazmanial Devil cartoon, just as was done with the Roadrunner. Sadly, Taz would cost 10 times as mush as the previously undervalued bird, so Plymouth came up with their own version.
The Duster was available with two slant six engines, the 170 and 225 cubic inch displacement. The V-8 318 was also offerered, along with the 340 four barrel, which would give the Duster the 14 second 1/4 mile time it needed to be in Plymouth's top-flight Rapid Transit System. Car and Driver magazine said that the 340 Duster's "14.72-second ET is better that any stock Cuda we've tried..." But the Duster, as fast as is was down the strip, had some handling problems, it liked to plow through the turns with severe understeer.
In planning, the Duster 340 was to be a fectory sleeper. In a world of striped muscle, the 340 would have only a telephone booth graphic on each fender, and one on the tail panel. The booth door would be open slightly with the letters CK underneath. Calvin Klein Duster, you ask?! No, Clark Kent, AKA Superman... This would only be obvious when opening the hood, where could be found a 3 by 3 foot "S" in red and yellow on the insulation pad. This idea was blown right out the sky by Chrysler-Plymouth Division assistant general manager R.K.Brown, who saw it as the worst idea ever. I kinda like it.
When the Duster arrived in the showroom in 340 form, it outsold the 340/383 Cuda every year it was offered. Mostly, it was the 12-1500 dollar yearly insurance costs. When asked what car it was, it would be insured as a Valiant 2 door sedan, which it was. Soon though, the insurance companies started asking questions. "Is it a Duster?" followed by "a V-8?" and then "which V-8 might that be?" There goes the neighborhood. 217,192 Plymouth Dusters were built in 1970 alone, helping to bring Plymouth to the number three spot in sales. Somewhere it hadn't been since 1959.
In an advertisement comparison to Ford's Maverick for 1970, showed the Duster costing 90 dollars and 75 cents more. For this 91 bucks, you got a wheel base that's five inches longer, 4.5 extra cubic feet of trunk space, 3.5 and 11 inches more hip room front and back, consecutively. Also there was Duster's larger brakes, more options, such as 2 V-8s, and a better warranty. They did the same thing with the Chevrolet Vega in 1972.
Once Plymouth sold 100 thousand Dusters, they celebrated with the "Gold Duster". Gold 340-type stripes on the sides and rear, argent silver grille, polished drip rail moldings, 225 or 318 engine, whitewall tires, and deluxe wheel covers.
The only changes for the 1971 model year were the dropping of the Valiant badge, exclusion of the frog legs ornament on the grille, and new "salt and pepper shaker" wheel covers.
Since they couldn't market the Duster as a sleeper, they went to the opposite end of the spectrum. Bold stripes all the way down the side and between the tail lights, 340 numbers on the rear quater panels, an optional flat black hood with a huge white "340" on it, off to the driver's side at an angle. Also hood pins, rear spoiler, tach, and "Tuff" steering wheel made the Duster 340 look meaner than your average street car. The vertical slot grille was a 340 and Twister only feature. Designers wanted tail lights to match the 340s grille, but were denied.
Bob McCurry, Dodge divion's general manager was hardly gladdened by this Valiant's success. For years, the Dart outsold the Valiant, so he demanded a Dodge variant, and got it.
Much to the dismay of the Plymouth people, Dodge stole the 340 Duster's planned tail lights for this variant. The Demon, and later the Dart Sport, never were as popular as the Duster. Plymouth recieved in exchange for thier 340 tail lighs, the Plymouth Scamp. This was the first two door hardtop Valiant since 1966. Some potential Duster owners opted for the Scamp, dropping Duster production to a temporary 186,478 cars.
To better use the tooling for the 340 Duster parts, the Twister was introduced in '71. Stepping out in February, the new Twisters sported six or eight cylinders, a 340 style grille and side stipes with the "Duster swirl and Twister decals in place of the 340 numbers. Also the hood was black, but with a body color strobe stripe on the raised center section, and nonfuntional hood scoops were offered. Tail panel stipes, two racing mirrors, wheel well and drip rail bright trim, deluxe seat trim, whitewall tires, and Rallye wheels without trim rings.
A plan to redesign the A body lineup for 1972 was put on hold due to some financial insecurity, and the unbelievable success of the unplanned Duster. At the last minute, new, wider taillights were added. The 340 engine had it's compression dropped to 8.5 from 10.5, and Electronic ignition was optional. A two quart plastic trash bag attatched to the inside of the glove box door came standard. Both the Gold Duster and the Twister were continued, but the vinyl top was revamped to become a more natural looking, though oddly placed "canopy" covering only the first two thirds of the roof, though the old style was still available. Production for 72 totalled 228,012.
1973 was the birth of not a new car, but many changes. As if the massive rear overhang didn't allow for a bog enough trunk, the Space Duster or Spacemaker Pak allowed a passage from the passenger area into the trunk. The back of the rear seat folded foreward, and a security panel behind that folded into the trunk giving a 64 by 13.5 inch opening. A metal sunroof was optional also, as opossed to the folding vinyl roofs of 71 and 72. The front end featured a "power dome" raised center hood. The grille was comprised of silver painted and rounded boxes stacked three high and three wide, eggcrate filled. The center boxes were as wide as the "power dome" and capped with the Plymouth nameplate in bright trim, while the smaller side boxes housed the turn signals. New rectangular headlight bezels flanked the grille and brought everything together above the deeper, stronger bumper.
The rear of the car also underwent some changes. The bumper was also redone, though less noticably, to meet new federal safety standards. Taillights were moved outward and trimmed with polished bezels, though they were still split horizontally. These new changes seemed to bring the Duster closer to being "main stream." The Twister got a new hood blackout treatment, and smaller, though still nonfunctional scoops. The Gold Duster recieved new striping available in gold, black, or white. The 340's stripes also changed accordingly. The front chassis recieved new control arms, ball joints and knuckle arms. Disc brakes became standard on all V8 Dusters, power assisted in 340 cars. Every powerplant was electronic ignition equipped, and inside, the fabrics used were upgraded. 264,974 Dusters were built in '73.
For 1974, almost no changes were made. Both the Gold Duster and the Twister option packages were continued, and even offered together on the same car. The most dramatic change was the 245 horsepower 360 cubic inch engine, but with climbing insurance rates and gas prices, only 3969 were ever made. To help car buyers out with fuel economy, Chrysler introduced the Fuel Pacer System. A fender mounted light lit up when the driver got on the throttle too much, signaling to back off. Plymouth was back in its number three spot with 281,378 Dusters, more than any other year.
1975. Chrysler was in another one of its slumps this year, laying off nearly all of its styling and engineering employees in shifts, over a peiod of three months in attempt to save money. Because of this, the release of the A-body replacement F-bodies had to be delayed. Changes were evident, however, throughout the Dusters in '75. A new egg crate grille out front, bearing the Plymouth frog legs emblem for the first time since the original Duster in 1970. The Duster Custom was introduced this year, sporting a bright panel between the tail lights, which was also standard on the Gold Duster. The Twister vanished, but the Duster 360 received stripes that covered plenty of the upper quarters. The 198 cubic inch slant six was discontinued, with only the 225 remaining as the base engine.
For it's final year in 1976, the Duster saw a serious downsizing, mostly because it was being replaced along with the entire A-body style line by the fresh new F-bodied Volare and Aspen. The Duster, this year, was available with the 225, 318, and 360, as it was in '75. The 360, however, was not available as a high profile, last-effort muscle motor. An automatic was the only way you could have one, and if you lived in California, you couldn't get one at all. The Duster 360 option package was gone, and with it went the Duster Custom. The Gold Duster was replaced by the Silver Duster, which had the usual canopy top and such, plus black and red stripes that followed the lower creases down the sides of the body, all the way around to cross on the rear panel. Colorful interior materials were used to add interest inside. Also a new option was the Feather Duster. The point was to get the absolute best fuel efficiency out of the Duster. This was done by the replacing of steel hood and decklid bracing, bumper reinforcements, and intake manifold with aluminum pieces. The 225 was tuned for gas mileage, and hooked to a 2.94 ratio rear axle. In between, an optional manual overdrive tranny in an aliminum case could be gotten, lightening the Feather Duster's load by 187 pounds total. To make sure the Feather Duster lived up to its economical image, options were restricted significantly. In this last year of its truest exhistance, only 34,681 Dusters were created, an anticlimactic end to one of the most influential cars ever born under the Plymouth nameplate.